


Don’t forget me

by Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth



Series: Paradise Motel Week [3]
Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: M/M, Volume lives AU, warning for violence and vomit mentions and i think thats it?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 9,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26515195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth/pseuds/Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth
Summary: Volume doesn’t die! Awesome!
Relationships: Vinyl/Volume (Fabulous Killjoys)
Series: Paradise Motel Week [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1924870
Comments: 248
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

It’s you and Vamos and Vaya who go to Volume once he’s fallen, Vamos and you are already crying, you’re ready to bury your best friend, resigned to his fate no matter how unfair it it. But it’s Vaya who notices, almost dropping him from shock, pointing wordlessly to the shallow rise and fall of his chest. You drop to your knees, cradling his head in your lap, and he barely reacts to the movement as Vaya rushes off (to get help, maybe?), and Vamos starts peeling away the still-smoldering layers of fabric. Looking at his fucked-up stomach, it’s clear they want to vomit, but they’ve been learning healing a little while now, and they’re the closest thing you’ve got to a medic, so they beat down the fear and start to work and you cuss yourself out mentally for not ever caring enough to learn to keep people alive more ways than just shooting down the Dracs in front of them. Shit, you’re distracted, head in the clouds while spending what may well be your last moments with Volume. You look down at him, passed the fuck out in your lap, and you want to scream away all your feelings, but you force yourself to look at him, look at the eyelash that’s fallen out and landed on his cheek, look at the slash mark scars across his lips, look at the messy, smudged-up eyeliner he’d spent so long getting even this morning. You can only hope it’s enough, hope you won’t ever forget his face if he does die. It’s a privilege you’ve never been unlucky enough to have before, and the whole world blanks out as you focus on Volume. 

And then someone’s taking him from you— someone you don’t recognize, while Vaya flutters around them, anxious. You blink, looking around for Vamos— they were just here a second ago, helping with Volume?— and they’re hunched over in the meager shade of a cactus, puking up breakfast. Volume would’ve scolded them, teasingly, for wasting food, then taken them to go find some water. You aren’t Volume, though, so you leave them, sobbing in the puddle of their own vomit, and stumble after Vaya and the stranger, who carries Volume to a rusty old truck outside Chow Mein’s. They put Volume in the passenger seat, and wordlessly, you and Vaya clamber into the truck bed. The truck rattles off, just as Vamos comes running, and with a look of indecision, Vaya jumps out the still-moving truck to join them, hitting the ground in a crouch. Vamos helps them up, and together they return to Val, to the new kid, and the people Volume had tried to save— had it worked? Were they saved? All you know is you’re sitting in the back of a stranger’s truck while your best friend bleeds to death in the passenger seat. Holy fucking shit.


	2. Chapter 2

You end up at a radio station, one of the big-name ones, you think, and the person carries Volume inside. You wonder if they’re still breathing. You stay sitting in the backseat of the truck, not ‘cause you don’t want to go in, but because you _can’t_ , can’t move for the rushingscreamingdying whoosh of your thoughts in your brain. 

So eventually, the person from earlier comes out to get you, all dripping in Volume’s blood. 

“Hey. You with the kid in there?” They jerk a hand back to the station and you blink, surprised they’re calling Volume a kid. He’s older than you, you think? Can’t remember, not right now. They don’t wait for an answer, holding out a hand to help you down, “I’m Cherri Cola, he/him. The kid’s alive, for now.” You frown, a bit relieved and a shitton worried, ignoring his offer of help. He leads you into the station, where Volume’s laid out on the kitchen table, bandages winding all up and down his torso, already spotting with blood. You go to him, stopping just short of reaching out, touching him. He’s breathing, at least, shallow and halting, and you figure his lungs or ribs or something’s been fucked up. You rest a hand next to his, and the guy from earlier comes over, smiling. His eyes look real tired, and you wonder how long he’s been out here, in the desert. 

“How’re you doin’? Your friend, they’re stable, for now. Fixed ‘em up myself.” You nod at him, half-assing your thanks. He pulls up a chair for you, and you nod again, trying to fake a smile. “You got a name?” You stare at him, and he repeats himself, louder, doing some hand-signs along with it. You mime writing shit down, and he disappears, coming back with some paper and the tiniest nub of a pencil you’ve ever seen. 

“I’m Vinyl,” you write. “He’s Volume.”

“Nice to meet you, Vinyl.” You don’t bother to answer, and so the two of you sit in silence, save for the occasional pained squeak out of Volume.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for this one: a gross thing is eaten on accident. If you want to avoid it, skip from “Who knows if she’ll stick around, anyways.” To the end of the paragraph!

Vaya radioes in a bit later, telling you to get your ass back to the nest before the electricity goes out, ‘cause they wanna see your face when they beat your high score in tetris. That gets a laugh outta you— nobody’s come close to your score and the both of you know it. But you tell Cherri Cola, and he nods, says it’s a shit idea to move Volume, especially not to someplace like the Nest, would you like Show Pony to give you a ride back? You nod, and Cherri calls into the back room, and the tallest ‘joy you’ve ever seen zips out on a pair of rollerskates, taking you by the hand and half-dragging you back to the truck. Ae introduce aerself as Show Pony, ae/aer, and drive you back to the nest, still wearing aer skates. Nobody comes outside to greet you, and you halfheartedly wave at Show Pony as ae turn the truck around and speed away. 

The party in the Nest is, as always, raging on, and you slip into a back room with half a bag of stale chips and a magazine you’ve already read thrice-over. It’s a shit distraction, but it’s better than nothing. You wonder if the others are thinking about Volume— Vaya tends to go out and be social when they’re upset, and Vamos sticks close to Vaya. Velocity’s probably off brooding somewhere, same as you, maybe showing the new kid the ropes? Who knows if she’ll stick around, anyways. You bite down on a chip and spit it right back out because there’s a _bug_ in it, and you never did get used to the way the others don’t mind gross shit like this. You leave the chips on the floor and go wash your mouth in the sink, but for the rest of the night, you can’t get the wriggling sensation outta your mouth. 

You’re the first one to head in to bed, and by the time you wake up in the morning, Val’s got an arm and a leg wrapped around you, Vamos’s feet propped up on the both of you while Vaya lays across their chest. So you let yourself drift back to sleep, completely pinned beneath your family, even though you can physically feel Volume’s absence. You wonder if it feels like a blaster shot to the stomach.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning in this chapter for light discussion of suicidal ideation a la Volume’s canonical last words

Once the others are up— it’s Val’s turn on kitchen duty, and it falls to Vamos to watch the new kid, who just goes by the Girl, you hear. Vaya hasn’t stuck around, probably off to keep the party going, keep the bad thoughts at bay. You head off in the direction you think you came from yesterday, looking for the station, but you just end up getting lost, so you go to Tommy Chow Mein’s instead, both to reorient yourself and grab what food you can with the loose carbons in your pockets. 

Volume likes dried fruit, so you grab some first, then stop. None of the others like it. And it’d be an expense you can’t afford, not if there’s no one around to eat it. Holy fuck. Is this normal, thinking about budgets, while your best friend is maybe-dying in a stranger’s house? You wonder if he’s still laid out on the kitchen table. You wonder if he died in the night. You buy the dried fruit, not bothering to haggle over the price, even though it shouldn’t have cost all your carbons. You put the package in a pocket and wander back to the Nest. The Girl is sitting out front, idly dragging a string back and forth for her cat to catch. 

“Rest’a your crew’s gone out with Cola,” she murmurs, not looking up. “He says the purple one’s doin’ better, asked me to let’cha know.” You nod, stepping past her to go inside, and she waves goodbye. You end up in the same back room as last night, flipping through the same magazine. And it’s just as fucking boring as before. 

So after a while, you end up back on the porch next to the Girl, who nods at you. You nod back. 

“Hey.” You wave a bit, and she frowns, thinking. “D’you talk? Sign?” She makes a couple shapes with her hands, and you shake your head. “Oh. You’re Volume, right?” You shake your head, write out,

“Vinyl” in the sand. 

“Sorry. Volume’s your friend? Purple hair?” You nod, turning away. You don’t want to talk about him. “He said he was tired of hiding.”

Holy shit. You look at her, she nods, and you don’t know what to do. You stand up to leave, and you take a few steps away from the Nest, before turning around— do you want to go in? Or go somewhere else entirely? Volume always was where you went for comfort. Is Volume happier now, dead? Fuck. Is Volume dead? No, the Girl said he wasn’t. Does he want to be? Shit. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t...” She trails off. You figure it’s hard to apologize for saying something like that. You figure it’s hard to say something like that. 

“Not your fault,” you say, and she jumps. Your voice sounds choked, at least to you, the words harder to say than usual. You head inside, and she follows you while you rummage around for a pen, scribbling out on your arm, “Take me to him.” After a second, you turn the period into a question mark. The Girl nods. 

“You know where WKIL is?” You shake your head. “It’s not far, c’mon.” She heads right out the door as you pocket the pen. Her cat jumps up onto your shoulder from the porch railing and you startle, patting it on the head once you recover, trailing after the Girl, who chatters on about all sorts of shit along the way. It’s pretty comforting, letting yourself be lost in stories about the bigass lizard she saw one time, or how come there isn’t a saguaro cactus constellation even though there’s one for most every other type of cactus.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep making this longer and longer I am so sorry :pensive:

Val’s sitting in the dirt outside the station, head in his hands. The Girl goes inside, but you stop, standing in front of Val, who doesn’t look up. 

“He’s not awake yet.” You nod, realize he can’t see, and tap your hand against his shoulder in acknowledgement. He rests a hand on top of yours, and you sit down next to him, letting him lean into you. “He wasn’t supposed to get hurt. We’ve did shit like that a thousand times over, and—“ You don’t know what to do, how to comfort him. He doesn’t care. “Is it my fault? Is it his? Fuck, I wish we’d never tried and saved those people— wish I hadn’t let him go— wish I’d left the kid alone and gone with him. Fuck. Fuck!” He slams a fist down onto the ground beside him, then shakes out his hand, wincing. You sit beside him, silent. 

Vaya storms the fuck outta the station a bit later, Vamos rushing behind them, resting a hand on their arm. They slap it off, and Vamos recoils back in shock. Vaya’s gone before they have the chance to recover, grabbing one of the bikes the others must’ve rode here. Vamos slumps down in the sand. Fuck. You look at Val, and he nods. 

“You go see Volume. I’ll check on Vamos.” You smile at him in thanks, and he frowns, confused. Must’a come out more like a grimace, then. He pulls you into a hug, real brief, before heading over to Vamos. You steel yourself at the door, then head in.


	6. Chapter 6

The guy from before is leaning forward in a chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Hey.” He sounds tired. “He’s in the back room, go on ahead.” You nod, and shuffle into the depths of the station. Someone’s on-air, you think you recognize his voice, but you really don’t care. Volume’s in someone else’s bed, blankets pulled up to his chin. It’s kind of cute, or would be, in any other scenario. Someone’s taken his hair down, combed out the glue and chemicals holding it up, and now his hair falls limp around his head like a fucked-up halo. You want to run a hand through it, want to hold him close and never let go. Instead, you sit down on the edge of the bed, careful not to jostle him, careful not to touch him. 

You wake him up anyways. And you’re half-sorry, half-grateful for it as he blinks a few times, winces, and whispers your name. 

“Vinyl.” You gasp, and he drags a hand out from under the blankets, reaching shakily for you. You take his hand in both of yours, and you’re crying, and he chuckles. “What’re you crying for? I’m fine.” You cry harder. He tries to sit up, and gasps. You set a hand on his shoulder, gently holding him down with a shake of your head. “Fuck you too,” he murmurs, and you smile. Once you’re sure you can take your hand away without him moving, you do, grabbing your pen and scrawling, 

“I’m glad you’re okay,” on your arm. He smiles, grabbing your hand and pulling it close. 

“Lay with me?” His voice is low, quiet, and you nod, gently lowering yourself down beside him. Something in your pocket crinkles as you move, and you pull out the package of dried fruit, passing it in front of Volume’s line of sight before setting it down on the side table. He hums happily, pulling your arm across him, and you give in to the urge to run your free hand through his tangled, greasy hair. He turns his head to look at you with an expression you can’t quite define, lips moving, too indistinct for you to make out. He falls asleep soon after— was he asleep before? Or just unconscious? Is there a difference?— and you stay with him through the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get better before they get worse <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter does contain discussion of a car accident, beginning at “Rightfully so, probably,” and continuing to the end of the chapter

Morning comes, and with it, the decision to let Volume return to the Nest. You carry him, half-conscious, out of the station, with a nod of thanks to the DJ, who’s sitting in the kitchen as you leave. He smiles, waves, and returns to his bowl of dry cereal. 

It’s Vamos who’s driving, come over in a car borrowed from one of the crews who often hang around the Nest. You tap them on the shoulder as you slide Volume into the backseat, resting his head in your lap. Vamos flips you off, but their carefree attitude seems a little forced, a little less bright than usual. You take out your pen, lean forward and draw a little heart on their wrist before they drive off. 

“Thank you, Vinyl.” You hum a few notes, acknowledging them, and they continue. “I just— I’m sorry. Yesterday, I said some things I shouldn’t’ve, wonderin’ if Volume was gonna get better at all, whether it would be...” You know what they’re going to say. You look down at Volume, making sure he’s still asleep. “Whether it would be _kinder_ , you know? And of course, now, he’s awake, and gonna be okay, and stuff, and I’d never—“ You set a hand on their shoulder, to calm them down, and they glance back at you. “Vaya got pissed at me. Rightfully so, probably.” They glance back at you again, and in those few seconds, the car hits debris in the road. Vamos gasps, jerking the wheel away from whatever it is— looks like the remains of a clap, maybe— and overcompensating, skids off the road and into what used to be a metal guardrail. 

You don’t have time to do anything but watch from the backseat, don’t even have time to wrap your arms around Volume and keep him safe. 

The car hits the guardrail on the driver’s side, and all three of you are thrown. Your head hits the window, and it’s your turn to go unconscious.


	8. Chapter 8

“Vinyl!” You don’t register the sound of your own name. 

“Vinyl, wake the _fuck_ up or I’m gonna call up the Witch and fight her myself!” You blink, open your eyes, and _holyfuckingshit_ , your head hurts. You groan, and Vamos laughs in relief. You can sorta see their silhouette leaning over you, and you realize they must’ve gotten out of the car. Volume’s weight is missing from your lap, and you sit up with a start to find him, only crashing back down again when your vision goes grey. “It’s okay, it’s okay. I got Volume outta the car, now you need to come too, okay?” Vamos pulls on your shoulder, tugging you out, and you let them, falling to your hands and knees a few feet away, then crashing onto your side in the burning sand. Your whole body aches, but nothing seems busted-up, just bruised. You drape an arm across your face to block out the throbbing light, and Vamos panics, kicks you in the side, which does a damn good job of keeping you awake, but you glare at them nevertheless, curled protectively around your side. They link your arm with one of theirs, trying to pull you up, and you scramble along with them. 

“Get up, Vinyl, oh, DESTROYA, we gotta get home.” As they move into the sunlight, no longer silhouetted, you see they’re covered in blood, little cuts and abrasions from what must be a broken window. You stagger to your feet, head spinning, and rest a hand lightly on Vamos’s shoulder to help orient yourself. They jerk away, spitting and cursing, and you realize their arm looks all fucked up. You try and say sorry, but the disconnect between your brain and mouth’s even worse right now, and you’re left mouthing the word like some damn fish outta water. Vamos doesn’t notice, anyways, you can tell it’s taking all their effort just to stay standing. Fuuuuuuck.


	9. Chapter 9

You stumble, vision spinning, over to Volume, propped up against the prickly trunk of a joshua tree. Vamos must’ve dragged him there, one-armed, and you make a mental note to thank them again, later. The thought doesn’t stick in your mind, though, and you never do end up thanking them for it. You slump down next to Volume, who surprises you by opening his eyes, smiling a bit. 

“Hey.” Your surprise must show on your face, ‘cause he says, “Yeah, I’ve been awake for the most of it, since just after the crash.” You’re tired, you close your eyes to catch some rest— why are you out here, again?— and Volume calls your name, soft but urgent, then a little louder, finally reaching an arm out to poke you in the face. You wake up with a start, confusion in your eyes. “Fucking stay awake, Vinyl. I’m the one s’posed to be near-death, not you.” You flip him off, clumsily, and he grins, still intermittently poking you in the face to keep you conscious. “That’s more like it, love.” 

This time, when your brain breaks, you think it’s from his choice of words, not the concussion, but Volume seems to take your dazed grin as something to worry over. 

“Hey, fuck, Vinyl, you there? Shit. Uh, what year is it?” You shrug, make a face. “You’re right, I don’t know that either. Motherfucker. Who’s in power right now?” You make the shape of the Director’s haircut with your hands, and he frowns, taking a second to understand. “Oh! Yeah, that’s right. Um, let’s see. What’s Vamos doing?” You tilt your head to the side, confused. The concussion questions are supposed to test memory, not what’s currently happening, right? Then Volume grabs your face, gently, and moves it so you’re looking at Vamos, who’s lying slumped in the dirt beside the wreckage of the car.


	10. Chapter 10

“Shit,” you say out loud, surprising the both of you, and you stand up, heading over to Vamos, only your brain messes up and sends you in a swerving, looping little jaunt around the joshua tree, eventually tripping over your own feet and faceplanting in the sand. Volume laughs despite himself, then beckons you back over.

“Here, help me up? If we go together, I can lead you in the right direction.” You nod, crouch down to lift Volume to his feet, supporting his weight. He clings to you, and any other time you would have twirled and dipped him, just to hear him giggle, but now, you’re focused taking one step after another, Volume keeping the two of you on course. 

You reach Vamos with minor difficulty, propping Volume against the car. Vamos is curled tight in a ball in the dirt, wailing in a single, constant tone that makes you want to clap your hands over your ears to block it out. But instead, you crouch down beside them, resting a hand on their good shoulder. They sob. 

“Hurts.” You nod, ignoring the way the motion sets your stomach rolling, pulling them up to a sitting position beside Volume. They scream, and you do clap your hands over your ears, stumbling back as Volume takes their arm, testing the damage. You lose your balance and hit the ground, vision graying out as your brain tries to keep up with this shit, and whoops, you’re falling asleep again. Fuck. You try and fight it, rolling over onto your front, and then getting up on your hands and knees, panting.


	11. Chapter 11

“Vinyl. We need the radio. From the car.” You look up at Volume, and regret it as the world tilts away from you. Once you’ve come back to yourself, you nod, shuffling forward on your hands and knees until you can lean against the car, stumble over to the passenger side for the radio. It’s fucking bolted to the inside of the car, but at least it’s still working, whining out some peppy prewars song. _Thematically inappropriate_ , you think as you try and pry the radio off, eventually fumbling your knife outta its sheath and trying to unscrew it that way. The knife tip breaks off, but eventually, you’ve got the radio, and you stumble back around to the others. 

Volume’s got Vamos’s arm wrapped up, tied to their chest to keep it immobile, and they’re mostly calm now, crying quietly as the two of them talk in hushed voices. You sit next to them, handing Volume the radio, and together, the three of you puzzle out your approximate location before he makes the call. It’s the Girl who picks up. 

“Hey, where are ya guys? Vaya went off to find all’a y’all a while ago, gone down Route Guano kinda frantic.”

“We’re out past the old shopping mall, they’ll reach us pretty soon, then.”

The two of them exchange a few more words before Volume signs off, setting the radio down in his lap and leaning his head back against the car. 

“Cute kid.” You nod, and Vamos shifts, leaning up against Volume, hugging him with their good arm. You lean closer, too, wrapping them both up in your arms, and together, you wait for Vaya.


	12. Chapter 12

You all spend a few days recovering at the nest. Vamos constantly complains the plain wood of their splint doesn’t go with _any_ of their clothes, but you can tell by the way they stick closer to Vaya than usual, they’re more shook up than they let on. They seem to have reconciled, on their own, the spat they’d had at the radio station, and none of say a thing to Volume. You find yourself hanging around Volume more often than not, helping him redye his hair, and spiking it up for him each morning, both of you choking on the fumes of his glue concoction he’d bought off a neutral in Zone Three. 

“Hey,” he says to you one evening as you’re checking the bandages on his stomach, covering up stitches and burns that are healing well, “Thank you. For everything.” And you look at him like ‘of course,’ and he makes a face. “I mean it, Vinyl. I love you.” And his words just about bowl you over. It’s nothing you all haven’t said to each other a million times, but the way he says it this time seems different. So gently, haltingly, you press a kiss to your fingertips, ghosting your fingertips across his cheek, eyes wide. You give him every opportunity to push you away, refuse your advances, and instead, he takes your hand in both of his as you pull away, holding your fingertips to his face, his eyes as wide as yours. You can feel his face heat up beneath your touch, and you smile softly at him. 

“Can I kiss you?” You sputter, surprised, and it’s your turn to flush, tapping his unwrapped bandages to tell him you’ve gotta finish up there. Shit. It ruins the moment, and he looks away as you wrap him back up, hands shaking slightly. You turn to leave, disappointed in yourself for fucking it up, and Volume takes you, gently, by the wrist. “Wait. Will you stay, please? I’m so sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” 

You wish you had the words to explain, no, you weren’t uncomfortable at all, but instead you nod, kneeling down beside the bed, so the two of you are face to face. He tries to move, shifting onto his side to face you better, and you help him, holding him close. He smiles, a little shy, and you smile back, and he wraps both arms around your neck in a hug, whispering in your ear, 

“Thank you for staying.”


	13. Chapter 13

After that night, you don’t get much time alone with Volume, for a bit. Supplies at the Nest are running low, the unending party on ‘temporary break’ while two of the illustrious Ultra Vs are outta commission. Your head’s doing good, now, so it’s you Val picks to go on a multi-day run with him, leaving Vaya home to defend the others. You’re waiting in the front room, all ready to go, while Val rushes around, having saved packing to the last minute. He stops, though, when he sees the Girl, stretched out on the couch with Vamos, doodling little shapes on their splint, ‘makin’ it look better so you won’t hafta complain’. You’re half-afraid he’s gonna start shit with her again, but instead, he clears his throat, shifting his weight from side to side. 

“Hey. Girl.” She looks up, ready to cuss him out, you think, but she stops short when he grabs the mask outta his pocket, tossing it onto the couch in front of her. “I, uh. Here.” She snatches it up real quick, like she’s afraid it’s a trick, and turns back to Vamos without a word to him. He hovers, awkward, as if waiting for her to thank him, and Vamos flips him off genially. 

“She don’t hafta forgive you, you know.” Val frowns, shrugs, and walks off as the Girl runs her fingers over the plastic of the mask, whispering something over and over. You smile at her as you drag Val off to the bikes, and she waves at you, a little uncertain.


	14. Chapter 14

The first day, you make it to a neutral settlement, where you sell off some batteries and rayguns for ammunition and a couple cans of food. Val handles the talking, and you handle the math as best you can— you’re better than Val, but that’s not saying much. 

You split a single can of PowerPup over a campfire that night, and Val looks at you with tired eyes. 

“How do we know we’re doing the right thing?” Damnit. Val’s always thoroughly convinced of all your righteousness, or morally shaken to the core, and you don’t know how to help with either of those. You shrug, hoping a noncommittal answer will be enough. “I’m. It’s frustrating, not being able to do something more, not being able to hit Better Living where it fucking hurts. But, I wonder, would it be worth it? Or would we give it our all, burn the fuck up, and a year from then, no trace we’d hit them at all.” You nod. Every few years, someone blows up an office building, or takes out a top official, always dying in the process, always forgotten in the end. “I’d do it, you know,” Val continues, and you look up, surprised. “I’d do it if nit for you guys. I was ready to go in, for Volume, when we didn’t know if he... Yeah. Anyways.” Val clears his throat, suddenly real desperate to set up your sleeping bags for the night. You get up intending to help him, wrapping him in a gentle hug first. He makes a little noise, high and teary, turning around in your arms to hug you back. 

“Love you,” you whisper, and Val looks up at you, smiling a bit. 

“Love you too, Vi.” He reaches up, gently, and snatches your mask, wiggling out of your arms with a laugh. You lunge after him with a surprised gasp, laughing, high-pitched. He dodges, running, and he’s faster than you, so you let him, dropping down beneath a cactus, still. As he circles back, concerned, you spot the dried-out shell of a dead old scorpion, and you snag it, tossing it at Val as he jogs closer. He screeches, flails back, and drops your mask. You grab it back up, offering a hand to Val, who’s noticed by now it’s dead, collapsed on the ground in breathless laughter. 

“Scared the _shit_ outta me, Volume!” You stick your tongue out at him, wiggling the two split halves at him. “Gross,” he complains, but he’s laughing, offering you a hug in order to rub sand in your hair. You grin. It’s been ages since you’ve seen him so carefree, and you tell him so, scribbling it out on the paper you’d packed. He shrugs. 

“I guess. It’s just nice to fuck around, you know? Pretend like the world ain’t shit, like I’m just having fun with a friend.”

“You are having fun (I hope),” you point out, “and the world’s always been shit.” It takes you a few tries to put the apostrophe in ‘world’s’. Val waits, patient. 

“Fuck, Vinyl, how are you so _okay_ with this? Is it ‘cause you believe in the Witch? Or because you’ve been out in the desert longer?” You shrug; it’s a good question. 

“Am I less bothered? Can’t tell.”

“Huh. You act it, sometimes. Guess I shouldn’t’ve figured without talkin’ to you.” You shrug once again. It’s not like you’re not used to people assuming shit about you. Val rests a hand on your shoulder, and heads off to bed. You follow soon after.


	15. Chapter 15

The rest of the run goes uneventful, and in a few days’ time, you and Val return to the Nest like fucking Santa Claus, dragging bags of food and weapons behind you. Vaya comes running up, and you scoop them over one shoulder, grinning as they screech in surprise. Vamos and the Girl follow close behind, the Girl’s hair half-cut, Vamos holding the scissors in their good hand. They stash the scissors away in favor of mobbing you for food, and you fight them off dramatically, until you see Volume. 

He’s come up to stand in the doorway, leaning heavily against the frame, but he’s smiling, and he’s up and about, wrapped up in a light blanket. You drop the bags, let Vaya wriggle off your shoulder, and clear the few yards to the door in seconds. He rests a hand on your shoulder, and you wrap your arms around his waist, gently. He looks up at you, eyes wide, and whispers your name. 

“Vinyl.” You smile, barely hearing Vaya whistle at the two of you. You nod, touching a finger to his lips, eyebrows raised in a question. “Please,” he says, and you bend down to kiss him as he wraps his arms around your neck, fingers running through your hair. You hold him, gently, until he pulls away, expression a little pained. “I’m sorry. Can we... I want to sit down.” You nod, offering him a hand, and he leans against you as the two of you head into the Nest. Val calls something about you ditching the job of carrying stuff in, and you happily ignore him, leading Volume to the room he’d been staying in. You stay beside him, his fingers tracing little circles on your wrist, and eventually, the two of you talk, writing on the back of an old magazine, running over the words multiple times so they show up against the pictures. 

“ **I love you**.”


	16. Chapter 16

The next few days are calm, and happy. Vamos convinces you to dye the ends of your hair, streaks of deep blue and purple on the bottom. They sneak up behind Val with a handful of red, slapping it into his hair, and he takes that as an excuse to dye the rest of it, make it even. Vamos fake-whispers to you, though, that they knew he wouldn’t have the guts to do it on his own, and he tosses the empty cardboard box at their head, sticking his tongue out at them. You help the Girl rub a dark green into her unbleached hair (forest green, it says on the bottle, and Vaya tells you about forests, about trees). 

The Girl settles in nicely with the five of you, sticking with Vamos more than anyone else, but somehow always hanging around, getting underfoot with a grin, but sometimes just watching you all fool around with lonely, haunted eyes. It’s those times you wonder about her old crew, and eventually, you ask Volume about it— you’d got the impression they were pretty well-known. 

“Yeah. She was with th’ Fabulous Killjoys, the Fabulous Four, they were sometimes called,” Volume murmurs, twining his hands through your hair as he sits in your lap, the two of you curled up on the couch together. The room is crowded, filled with strangers dancing, laughing in the night, but really, it’s just the two of you. Nobody else matters when Volume’s around. “She got taken, I think, by the corp’ration, and they went in to save her.” You blink, remembering what you’d asked about before getting lost in Volume’s eyes. “It was a shit time for the whole desert, you know, four of th’ biggest names gone ghosted in a single day— in a single minute, if ya believe the stories. Lotta people took it real hard. But you know, they never heard from th’ Girl until she showed up at Tommy’s that day.” Volume shrugs, and you notice, in the back of your mind, that the movement is easy and fluid, that no pain shows on his face anymore. 

"Wow,” you write, for lack of anything else to say, and he nods, reaching up to trace along the line of your face with two fingers, gentle, almost cautious. You grin, taking his hand in yours, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. 

“Sappy,” he says poking you with his free hand, and you raise an eyebrow, lick his hand instead. “Oh, _gross_!” He wriggles outta your lap, and tosses the single ratty couch pillow at you, wiping his hand on your shirt. You toss the pillow back, and he reaches up to catch it, stopping short with a startled cry, hunching over his stomach. _Shit_. You quit messing around instantly, resting a hand on his shoulder. He looks up at you, gasping. 

“I’m okay. Will be. Just—“ he cuts himself off with a hiss of pain, as someone jostles the couch. You pick him up, gently, and he looks up at you through teary eyes. Instead of trying your luck finding an empty room in the Nest, you take him out onto the back porch, settling down on the steps still holding him in your arms. His breath comes in short, pained gasps as you gently rock back and forth, half comforting him, half comforting yourself. He grips your hand and squeezes tight, and you hold him, because it’s all you can do as he waits for the pain to pass.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, shit’s gonna hit the fan! So this and the next few chapters will have a warning for canonical temporary child death, as in the Girl gets ghosted, chats with the Witch, and is yote back to the land if the living. It’s a little more graphic than in the comics, but the Girl neither suffers nor is in pain

Finally, Volume goes limp in your arms, all the tension draining from him as he takes a deep, shuddering breath. 

“Water?” You nod, gently propping him up against the weathered wooden staircase, hurrying into the Nest. And as you squeeze your way through the twisting mass of people, all hell breaks loose. 

At first, you think it’s a fight between crews, until you see the pristine white no ‘joy would ever think to wear, and your heart drops outta your chest. Your first instinct is to go back for Volume, but drawing any attention to him is a fucking awful idea. So you leave him, grabbing the first ‘joy you see and tossing them into the kitchen, hoping they’ll be smart enough to take the exit, hoping Volume hears the chaos and leaves as soon as he can. You damn near trip over someone’s blaster on the floor, charge half-full, and you drop down on one knee to grab it as the lucky ones escape and the less-lucky hit the floor. You see a flash of blue go down, and you pray it wasn’t Vaya, don’t have time to check as you fire shot after shot, ducking behind furniture when you can, grabbing weapons from fallen killjoys each time you run out of ammo. You’re a good shot, and what you lack in precision you make up for in strength, knocking a Drac out with a single punch as it tries to get at you all close-range. Most of the Dracs are dead or incapacitated as you forge your way through to the front of the Nest, driving a pair of Exterminators back, out through the door they’d broke down. You fuck up, though, taking a moment to glance at the ground looking for a new blaster— the Girl’s crumpled down on the front porch, dead with a shot to the back.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, the warning from the previous chapter carries over, as well as some more violence and injury yeehaw

You stop short, seeing her. How could you not? 

“Girl,” you whisper, and the one time you manage to say something out loud to her, she’s too _dead_ to hear it. 

In your shock, you let down your guard, too focused on the Girl to give a damn about the Exterminators laying siege to your fucking home. The Nest could burn, for all you care, they fucking killed a fucking _kid_. A blast grazes your leg, and your knees buckle, you drop down beside the Girl, and that’s a good thing, maybe, because maybe you can _help_ , do you remember CPR? Does that work for blaster wounds? 

A blaster shot goes over your head and you barely flinch. Her fingertips and lips are an ugly blue-purple already, no breath moving her chest. Oh, Witch, no. Witch. Can you take her mask, at least? Have you ever seen her wearing a mask— would the yellow one she totes around work for her? You couldn’t care less about the dead ‘joy it once belonged to, not if you could use it for her soul, instead. 

But your panic-spiral thoughts are interrupted when one of the Exterminators lunges forward, both hands wrapped around your neck, sending you crashing backwards to the floor under its crushing, mechanical weight. You thrash, kicking at it, and you’re strong, but it’s programmed not to care about the blows you manage to land, and you’re losing air, fast. As you struggle, it twists a forearm in an impossible position, never letting go of your neck, bringing its steel limb down directly on your collarbone. You don’t have enough air left in you to scream.


	19. Chapter 19

Volume saves you. 

Really, he’s saved you a million times over, but this time more literally than most. A single shot, straight through the computing central, leaving smoking, tore up plastic and metal just inches from your face. The machine quits moving, but is still locked onto your neck, and leaning heavily on Val, Volume tosses aside his blaster to slump down beside you, hands breaking the Exterminator’s grip metal finger by metal finger. 

“Vinyl,” he gasps, shaking under the strain of coming to rescue you, and you reach out, shaking just as hard. You hear the fighting continue around you, hope BLI is losing, but you’re too fucking deoxygenated to care. 

You pass out, probably, because you’re fucking sleepy or some shit, and your eyes are all heavy and you don’t remember closing them, but all of a sudden you’re opening them, and Volume’s leaning over you, anxious, as Vamos bandages your leg. 

“Hey,” he whispers, threading his fingers through your hair. You blink, reaching up to touch him, and you realize with a jolt of pain your arm is tied down to your chest. 

“Don’t fucking _move_ before I can fix that,” Vamos snaps, expression haggard, hair roughly pulled back from their face. It’s streaked with someone else’s blood. You blink again. It’s like thinking through molasses, like your brain’s buried six feet down in the sand, still tryna move your body. 

“They, uh. They’re the only fucking medic around. We’ve put out a call for help along one of the quieter channels, so hopefully news don’t get out too fast about... this all.” Volume gestures to the room around you, and for the first time, you notice what’d happened while you were out. 

The room’s been set up in a rudimentary triage system, you think, with all the more grievously wounded ‘joys already cared for. Those who know first aid are helping, shakily, tend to the others, while crews gather up the masks and bodies of their fallen. Holy fuck, it’s been a fucking massacre. 

Volume wipes a few tears off your face, barely holding in his own grief. 

“Vi, we’re all here, except the Girl. She was one of the first to go, went easy, apparently.” It’s nothing you didn’t know, but you want to fucking scream nevertheless. All that comes out is a burning, garbled choking sound, and you clap your good hand to your throat, struggling to breathe. 

“Witchfuckingdamnit, Volume, calm him down!” Vamos finishes wrapping up your leg and storms off to help someone else, tension crackling off their every movement. _Where is she?_ you want to say, but you don’t have anything to write with, so instead you sit up, wheezing, and stumble towards the front door. Val rushes by with an armful of blood-soaked rags, and when he sees where you’re headed, he rests a hand on your good arm real gentle. Then he’s off again. Volume’s ghosting behind you, quiet, expression vacant, and Vaya’s already there, on the porch, holding one of the Girl’s cold dead hands. They nod a greeting as the two of you sit down beside her, and after a while, Val and Vamos join you, silent.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canonical temporary child death warning is lifted after the first paragraph <3

There’s work to be done to help un-fuck this whole shitshow, but instead, the five of you sit with her. Volume cries, as Vamos grows increasingly angry, kicking away at the weathered wood of the front porch railing. A few crews roll in to help, and you ignore them all, sitting with the girl you’d only just begun to know. 

And then she fucking sits up. 

Val jumps back with a scream, fumbling for a blaster that isn’t there, and makes to fucking run away. Vamos, still tense as fuck, reacts to the noise by fucking decking Val, rolling down the front porch steps all tangled-up, ending up sprawled unmoving in the dirt. 

“What the...?” The Girl sits up, rubbing her eyes, and the three of you left look at each other dumbfounded. 

“You... died,” Vaya hazards, not sure how to soften the news. She nods. 

“Yeah, I know that. I met the Witch.” It’s your turn to lose your shit, gasp of surprise turning into an extended fit of coughing, wheezing. The Girl turns to look at Volume, who has one arm around your shoulders, the other hand gently touching your face. “Is he alright?” Volume looks to you, and you nod, still struggling to breathe. 

“He will be. What about you? You got shot.”

“She fixed me.” The Girl smiles, a bit. “And I think I know what we have to do.”


	21. Chapter 21

Of course, the kid wants to storm the fucking Battery. 

It’s taken a few weeks to recover from the raid on the Nest, and too many ‘joys never will. You think about it every time you go back, to try and help out those few still living there. 

You’ve all set up camp in a tent, traded in the bikes and anything of value you had left for a car the six of you can all cram into together. You’ve moved to Zone Two, closer to the Battery. The Girl says closer is better, but the rest of you want to hold back, wait to fight. In the meantime, you rest. Vaya leaves most days, coming back with supplies won gambling, and once, a stack of comic books you pore over. Volume cuts them up for collages after you’re done, fingers tacky with glue for ages after. Val asks the Girl about a lot. At first, you think it’s purely tactical, planning for your attempt at BLI. But one night, over your combined lunch-dinner meal (supplies are running _so_ fucking low), Val asks the Girl about the Witch, tone earnest, and you realize your prickly-ass crewmate is fucking learning and growing and shit. You say so, and he throws his empty PowerPup can at you. So you ‘offer’ to tell the others about the scorpion incident, writing the threat down and folding it into a paper airplane to toss at him. The Girl grabs it first, and she laughs, dodging Val’s attempts to snatch the paper. Shit’s fucked, but you’re family.


	22. Chapter 22

She says it’s not gonna be violent, however the fuck she plans on making _that_ happen, but you’re not taking any chances, packing a few extra blasters. 

You leave early in the morning, not bothering to pack up the tent. Val drives, and Vaya rides shotgun, the Girl sitting on their lap to tell you all where to go. In the backseat, Vamos is driving you up the wall, fidgeting with the door lock. They’d rebroke their arm tackling Val off the porch the day the Nest fell, and you can tell they’re real worried, going into the Battery at a disadvantage. Volume notices too, you figure, because he slips both arms around them, whispering something in their ear. They quit fidgeting, squeezing Volume’s hand tight. And together, you ride to your probable deaths. 

The others pile out of the car on the outskirts of the City, and the Girl says a few words to Val, taking his blaster from him. You wait, gently tug Volume’s sleeve to get his attention. He looks at you, wide-eyed, and then he leans forward, pressing one final kiss to your lips. You kiss him back, gentle and brief, and holding hands, the two of you join the others. 

The Girl nods at you, grim-faced. Then, she takes up Val’s blaster in both hands, and fires a single shot into the sky. 

It’s the biggest blaster shot you’ve seen, draining Val’s battery at once, the electricity crackling and hissing around you like nothing you’ve ever felt before. Volume gasps, stumbles back, but as he turns to you, he breaks into giggles, smoothing down your static-filled hair with his free hand. You grin, pulling him into a hug as all of you follow the Girl’s lead, and wait.


	23. Chapter 23

BLI comes for you. It seems to be part of the Girl’s plan, and she gives herself up willingly. The rest of you exchange glances. It’s Vaya who follows first, dragging Val along. Vamos seems to be weighing their options, but when a Drac grabs their wrist, they don’t fight it. You squeeze Volume’s hand, and together, the two of you lay down your step forward. 

The Dracs march your group inside the walls of the City, taking you straight for the Director, you think. Vamos lags behind, and when a Drac shoves them forward, Vaya spins around in an instant, blaster aimed at its forehead. 

“Stop.” The Girl doesn’t look up, voice soft, steady. Vaya fires anyways. The _zap_ of their blaster is louder than anything you’ve ever heard, and you let go of Volume to bring your hands up to cover your ears. The shot stops. It contorts into a ball of hissing energy. It fucking dissipates into the air over the course of a few seconds, and you look at Volume, all _what the fuck?_ , and he points to the Girl, who’s standing straight, looking at Vaya. “I asked you to stop.”

“I’m sorry,” Vaya whispers, and the Girl steps forward, smiling. 

“It’s o—“ a Drac behind the Girl lunges for her, and it fucking _explodes_ in a shower of guts and soft white plastic. 

She turns to face the gore, and with a deep breath, she closes her eyes. 

The Dracs around you slump to the ground in unison. 

Windows all around you shatter. 

She takes another breath. She lifts off the ground, a few inches at first, then a few damn feet. 

The lights keeping Batt City always bright, always shiny, go out all at once. 

A siren starts blaring in the distance, shutting off before you have the chance to cover your ears. 

And Battery City breaks. 

When the Girl exhales this time, she drops to the ground, landing in a crouch. No sooner has she stood up than a Drac moves, hands reaching for its mask. Vamos raises a boot, ready to stomp its brains out of its head, when Vaya tugs their sleeve, points. 

Slowly, the Drac pulls its mask off, with shaking hands, revealing a wholeass human being with fucking emotions showing on its face. 

“Help,” it whispers, and Vaya drops to their knees, extending a hand to it. The other Dracs follow the first one’s lead, slowly, shakily pulling off masks that never should’ve been removable.


	24. Chapter 24

The lights flicker, then come back on, and the Girl lets them. All over, citizens of the Battery are coming out of apartments, tossing aside broken headphones, and _celebrating_ , celebrating this tentative freedom. 

You turn, again, to Volume, and he throws his arms around you, grinning. He’s gorgeous in his joy, like nothing you’ve ever seen before. You pick him up, swing him around, gentle, cautious of his nearly-healed wounds. He kisses your cheek, whispers a thousand quiet cheers. You shift his body to your shoulders, and from there, he announces your victory to the whole damn Battery as the rest of your family joins you. 

If the Girl shatters a few lightbulbs in her excitement, there’s nobody here who’d blame her. 

That evening, as ‘joys pour in from the Zones, you all set up at a fucking picnic table in a too-manicured park. But there’s children climbing the trees, now, families out for walks along previously-untouched paths, so the perfectness is already being ruined. Val sits right on the table instead of a bench, and the Girl, giggling, tries her hardest to shove him off as he protests. You settle down between Vamos and Volume, when Vaya’s voice catches your attention, asking someone if they need any help. 

“I need to speak to him.” You turn around, and there’s your fucking sibling, still wearing the ugly white Drac uniform. 

You’re with hir in a second, and sie closes the gap between the two of you, whispering the name no one’s said since sie was taken. Through your tears, you’re both smiling, and you’re caught up in the moment until Vamos interrupts, asking, 

“Who the fuck is that?”


	25. Chapter 25

You leave the city together, your sibling, your boyfriend, and your pack of fools. Your family. 

It’s nice, if a little hard to adjust to— your family learns your new name— really, your old one, the one you never would have dreamt of using again, and your sibling adjusts to who you’ve become. Sie’s almost been frozen in time, no memory of being a Drac, while you’ve changed a thousand times over. 

You’re so damn grateful for the opportunity to struggle to adjust, so grateful for the awkward moments, the angry ones, and the sad ones.


	26. Chapter 26

Everyone’s surprised when you end up back at the Nest. DESTROYA’s gone, now, but the Nest itself remains, along with memorials to those lost when the Nest first fell. 

Vaya teaches your sibling and the Girl how to repaint the walls, while Volume and Val enlist the help of various DJs in setting up a new radio station— really, a hub of information, of ‘joys and former Batt City citizens exchanging information, finding lost family, becoming whole again. 

You and Vamos start bringing people to and from the Nest, helping them get to where they need to be. 

You’re taking a group of former Dracs home, helping a tall, middle-aged woman down from the bed of the truck you’d taken to using, a gift from the DJ Cherri Cola who’d saved Volume’s life, just months ago. The woman drops your hand suddenly, rushing forward to the Girl, and you try to stop her. So many of the people who were in the City that day recognize her, and even more have heard her description. It’s only natural that they’d want to thank their savior, you know, but you’d rather the overzealous ones fucking chill, and you know the Girl thinks so, too. 

She turns, though, and runs to the woman with equal excitement, tackling her in a hug, and then, you realize, recognize within their reunion the reunion of you and your sibling. So you smile, lead Vamos away to find some other project to work on while the two of them have their moment. 

You stick around, though, when Doctor Death rounds the corner next morning for breakfast, damn near jumping outta his skin when he sees her, hiding a giggle behind your spoonful of cereal. Volume notices, though, tells you,

“You should be ashamed, laughing at something so sickeningly cute,” and you kiss him, tapping him on the lips first to ask. Val tosses his plastic spoon at you, and Volume quits kissing you long enough to make a face at him him. 

It’s a perfect morning, a perfect start to the rest of your lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy fucking shit, we did it!!!!! Thanks for sticking around these few weeks, I really hope you like how it turned out!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment below, and find me on tumblr @wishiwasthemoon-tonight!


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